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La Porte County Historical Society 
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1920's Kitchen Exhibit
To the right of the wood icebox is one of the first electric refrigerators. It worked just like our modern refrigerators, though its compressor was on top. |
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Copyright © 2002 by LaPorte County Historical Society |
The 1920's Kitchen contains several examples of changing technology. The availability of natural gas
and electricity to homes brought about these changes, but they occurred in different decades depending on the location. Most
city dwellers would have had electricity by the 1920's, but rural farm homes would still be using kerosene lamps for light, a
wood stove for cooking or perhaps a kerosene stove like the one on the right hand wall here in the display. On the back wall
is a gas stove that would have been in a house in the city. On the far left-hand wall is a wood icebox. The upper door concealed
a block of ice almost the size of the door. Food was kept below, and water from the melting ice collected in a tray at the
bottom. 
The ice industry was big in La Porte with our many lakes. When the ice was thick on top, it was
cut out by horse-drawn saws that looked like plows. It was stored in ice houses, covered with straw to keep it from melting.
It lasted clear through the following summer and fa11 until the next ice harvest. Blocks of ice were brought to homes by
wagon.